Seeing the number of early deaths from strokes getting more than halved, looks like battle against stroke, which is also known as the country’s biggest killers is being fought well.

The achievement was termed as a ‘fantastic achievement’ by Shona Robison, health minister.

In the decline, the key factors responsible are getting diagnosed early to figure out the problem well in time and leading a healthy lifestyle.

From 1995 to 2010, among those who were less than 75, a target of bringing down deaths from strokes by half was set by the NHS Scotland. There was a major decrease in the mortality rate for strokes in 1995 to 2009, which was 37.5 per 100,000 to 17.2, respectively.

In Scotland, there was also a dip in the number of overall stroke deaths that was 6821 in 2000 and came down to 4911 in 2009.

There was a gap seen in number of stroke deaths in men and in women, it was higher in women.

Robison said, "NHS Scotland has exceeded its target of achieving a 50 per cent reduction in premature stroke deaths, a year ahead of schedule. Between 1995 and 2009, not only have we seen a 54 per cent cut in deaths from stroke among under-75s, we've also seen a 59.6 per cent reduction, against a 60 per cent target.”